Jewellers going back to traditional handcrafted ornaments to fetch premiums
17/02/2019
Mumbai: A decade after revolutionising jewellery industry through machine-made designs, jewellers have started going back to the traditional handcrafted manufacturing of gold and diamond ornaments to appease customers for premiums. The move is a result of a combination of factors.
Most jewellers are voluntarily opting for hallmark jewellery and retail gold price is usually in sync with Indian Bullion and Jewellers Association indicative price for retailers announced daily. As a result, differentiation will be design and without designs, brand value, which was otherwise a guarantee for purity is diminishing.
Machine-made gold jewellery started replacing handcrafted ornaments early this century in order to cut costs and because machine designs, especially in chains, earrings and bangles were becoming popular and cheaper. Gradually, pure machine-made ornaments expanded their share in overall jewellery sales to 25-30 per cent (from less than 5 per cent two-decade ago) and many designs were a blend of handcrafted and machines designs.
Unfortunately, the purpose of shifting from handcrafted to machine-made ornaments served no purpose. Neither cost of machine-made jewellery declined, nor jewellers found it fruitful to launch innovative designs. In both cases, human interventions were found to be beneficial not only to appease customers for fetching premiums but also in terms of durability of the limited designs manufactured through machines.
“The jewellery industry is going back to ‘handcrafted’ ornaments for both domestic and overseas buyers. Thus, handcrafted jewellery will be the future of jewellery sales in India,” said N Anantha Padmanaban, Managing Director, NAC Jewellers, a leading jewellery manufacturer in Chennai and also chairman of All India Gems & Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC).
In fact, the GJC is planning to re-introduce its famous marketing 'Lucky Lakshmi' to encourage handcrafted jewellery manufacturers with intrinsic designs.
“Instalment of a machine calls for a massive investment. Hence, small jewellery orders cannot be fulfilled with machines. For every small order, a dye needs to be made which again costs immensely for jewellers. Since consumers’ mindset in India keeps changing, machine-made ornaments become outdated after a short period. In case of handcrafted ones, consumers hold the ornaments for long due to their emotional attachment,” said Shankar Sen, Chairman and Managing Director, Senco Gold Ltd, a Kolkata – based jewellery manufacturer.
The most unfortunate part in machine-made jewellery is the limited options available with less flexibility of errors and omissions. Finishing of jewellery with machines often causes breaks, which are connected with laser technology and have short durability.
“In terms of handcrafted jewellery, we engage well-trained karigars (craftsmen), who prepare the ornaments after the job is aassigned to them. So, jewellers don't need to continuously monitor the manufacturing process of handcrafted jewellery by a karigar. In case of a break at joints, the karigar immediately repairs the ornaments for re-use,” said Sen.
Machine made ornaments, by contrast, need to be sent for melting once they break at joints, resulting in loss of making charges.
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